Briefing the media on the Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said India and China have agreed on pursuing a peaceful relationship and on issuing specific guidelines to their respective militaries to help in confidence building. Earlier, Modi and Xi took a ride onboard a decker boat on the East Lake on Day 2 of their informal Wuhan summit. Xi treated Modi to a special traditional tea and will also host a lunch for PM today. The leaders are holding delegation-level talks in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, taking forward their two-day informal summit. The two leaders had earlier enjoyed a guided tour of the Hubei Provincial Museum, the first stop in their ‘heart-to-heart’ meeting. Dinner by a picturesque lake side followed by talks with top officials marked Day 1 of the unprecedented summit, which is aimed at evolving consensus between the two leaders on contentious issues, including the border dispute.
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PM Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping today held “extensive and fruitful” meetings on the first day of the Wuhan summit to “solidify” the India-China relationship and exchanged views on how the two countries can work together for the benefit of their people and the world.
The ‘heart-to-heart’ summit in Wuhan — the favourite holiday spot of revolutionary Chinese leader Mao Zedong — is being seen as an effort by India and China to rebuild trust and improve ties that were hit by the 73-day-long Dokalam standoff last year. Modi, who arrived in the central Chinese city on Friday, for the summit began talks soon after Xi received him with a warm handshake and hosted a grand welcoming ceremony for him at the Hubei Provincial Museum.
He was welcomed with a classical Chinese dance opera performance after which Xi took him around some of the most historic art collections and cultural relics of China’s ancient civilisation. The museum walk scheduled for 20 minutes lasted over 40 minutes after which they began one-on-one talks.
Their one-on-one talks were followed by delegation-level interaction with six top officials each from both sides took part, giving an impression that some of the critical issues were on the table for discussion.
The talks lasted for over two hours overshooting scheduled half an hour time, hinting the seriousness of the discussions. The talks between the two leaders on the first day ended with dinner diplomacy. Xi hosted a banquet in honour of Modi at the famous East Lake. Xi in a gesture of warmth and friendship walked with Modi to the car to see him off.
The summit was stated to be unique as the two leaders have no pressure and obligation to strike any agreements nor make big announcements but focus mainly on candid discussions on solutions to some of the vexed problems like the boundary question and other issues. Modi offered to host the next informal summit with Xi in India next year. “I’ll be happy, if in 2019, we can have such informal summit in India,” he told Xi.
Xi said they can meet in a format like this from time to time. Modi hailed the centuries old Sino-India ties and said India and China have the responsibility to work for 40 per cent of the world population and the two sides have a big opportunity to work together for the benefit of their people and the world.
He recalled that during the 2000 years of history, India and China together provided momentum and strength to the world economy and dominated it for around 1600 years. “The two countries together constituted for about 50 per cent of the world economy for 1600 years,” the prime minister said.
Modi also said the people of India felt proud that President Xi has twice received him out of the capital. Xi emphasised the two sides should look at the big picture of China-India relationship from a strategic angle and ensure their relationship continue to move forward in a positive direction.
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